Guantánamo

Under questioning from a Marine judge, the lawyer for accused 9/11 plot mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed said he had a written, proposed plea deal in the summer of 2017 and had it delivered to the Pentagon official overseeing the war court. Another defense lawyer in the death-penalty case said it subsequently vanished.

Defense lawyers in the 9/11 case arrived at Guantánamo for a week-long pretrial hearing to find a mold infestation in their top-secret work spaces. Health and safety inspectors were on the scene Sunday, Veterans Day.

Prison guards set up a hospital bed inside Guantánamo’s expeditionary war court so a new Marine judge could get through the preliminaries in a pretrial hearing for an alleged al-Qaida commander on painkillers.

A Guantánamo hearing for an Iraqi accused of leading al-Qaida’s army in Afghanistan abruptly ended after the captive, who is recovering from 5 spine surgeries, had back spasms in court, was administered opiates and taken to the prison acute care unit by ambulance.

Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay in exchange for captured American army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar.

A military review panel has upheld a ruling by the retiring USS Cole case judge that defense attorneys couldn’t unilaterally quit the case over their perception of an ethical issue, potentially ending an impasse in the Guantánamo war crimes trial.

Hearings in the 9/11 death-penalty trial may be held in the Washington, D.C, area for the first time since the case began, a move some lawyers say would bolster the argument that alleged terrorists are entitled to greater Constitutional protections at Guantánamo trials.

The new Marine judge tried for five days to hold a half-day hearing in the al-Qaida commander war crimes case. Friday, he gave up, ordered prosecutors to figure out how to hold a hearing with the captive who has had five spine surgeries in eight months at Guantánamo Bay.

The U.S. government alleges that fighters who answered to the Iraqi committed a series of war crimes, including shooting at a U.S. military medevac helicopter, setting roadside charges that killed allied troops, and attacking civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.